Weakness
by Miyukitty
Summary: Oneshot retelling Alex's final confrontation with the Wise One, giving some insight to his ambiguous motives.  Major spoilers, of course.


_Author's Notes:_  
_(Last tweaked on July 21st)  
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_This story is written for a contest through DeviantART, called 'Through Darker Eyes': The main stipulation is that it is written as a canon scene through a villain's point of view. Please feel free to critique, I wrote this very late at night. c:  
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_I chose Alex from Golden Sun, which means this is one big spoiler for the ending. It's also a bit of a response to my "Mia's Memoir", since it's a way for me to tie their perspectives together without them actually crossing paths. All the italics are actual quotes from the games, and some of his inner monologue has tie-ins to quotes too - such as "no desire for unnecessary bloodshed", something some fans tend to forget. This is the best way to explain how I see Alex, so... regardless of your own interpretations, I hope this is still an enjoyable read._

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_"I am on no one's side. My only concern is to see the lighthouse beacons lit once again..." _

The sunlight was hot against his heavy vestments, thick winter cloak dragging against the warm stones of the mountain. The heat was oppressive, but pushed stubbornly aside in his excitement, gloved fingers clawing eagerly at the next handhold. He didn't have time to stop and wrest free of his cumbersome raiments – didn't have time for anything other than climbing. His breath caught ragged in his chest, parched tongue bared as he panted aloud. Perhaps he had gotten out of shape, using his command of the elements to levitate and warp through the moribund world. This peak had to be scaled by hand, though, to claim the prize that was gathering at the climax like pollen gathered at the stamen of a flower.

"The Golden Sun... The very quintessence of Alchemy's power! It's beginning! Wait for me! Please, wait! Wait until I reach the summit of Mt. Aleph!"

Alex barked a giddy laugh, his sea-green eyes alight with desire. This anticipation was almost too much for him to bear – it was the culmination of all of his delicate machinations, the subtle and not-so-subtle manipulation of everyone he came into contact with, everyone foolish enough to trust him before he discarded them like the trash they were. His first step had been to cut ties with the dying clan of Mercury, desert the dying town of Imil, part of the dying world of Weyard... the first step was the hardest. Now, now that he had earned the enmity of everyone he had once called ally, burning the bridges behind him, now it was easy. This was all he had left to accomplish.

_"Ah, well... I can't stay the same Alex you knew forever... And so, I bid you adieu." _

A sharp pang in his chest made him falter, almost missing his grip on the sheer cliff wall. It had been easy for him to use people he did not care about – those useless cretins from Prox, for example, it had almost been a relief to learn they had been killed. Their "hostages" – Felix, Sheba, and Jenna – had noble hearts and a desire to do right by the world, and it was also easy to leave such naive children to their own devices. Alex always did prefer to work alone. It was better that way. He had convinced himself there was less chance of him getting distracted that way. He did, after all, have a weakness...

His smile vanished, replaced with a dark scowl. This was not the time to be thinking of that... of how _she _would react when she learned of his most ultimate betrayal. By now, she would already know where he was. Growling lightly under his breath, he pressed onward, nearing the top. He had to do this.

_"...Feel free to help whomever you like if it truly makes you happy. You have no need to hide such fine exploits from me. Working hard for the benefit of others is quite noble. That's what Mia always said..."_

Alex struggled to push Mia from his mind, to ignore the dull ache thudding against his ribcage. It was either chase his ambitions, or pursue what would make _her _happy, and he had already made his decision. He was past the point of no return. It was too late for regrets. Forcing the bitter smile back onto his shadowed face, his cold eyes were riveted determinedly on the soft light filtering through the clouds, the latent power in the air that seemed to vibrate through his core. It was easier to be selfish when he never had to actually see the disappointment in her eyes. The Mercury adept pulled himself up onto the center of the plateau, quickly forgetting his exhaustion as the golden light washed down upon him in earnest.

Pure raw Psynergy streamed through his form as if he were conducting electricity – his long hair even rose up around him, buoyant in the earth's release of alchemy. A shuddering gasp caught in his throat, his gold-washed expression that of rapture, ecstasy. This was it! The Stone of Sages was within him! He had made it just in time –

"At last! I have it! Eternal life... and limitless power! At last, the power of nature is mine to control as I will!"

– Now nothing would stop him. He would not fall prey to illness, succumbing like the rest of his weak-bodied clan. He would not wither away from the ravages of time, feeble and old like his first and only teacher had been – before his heart attacked him, leaving his two wards alone in the harsh Imil winter. Alex's very life was now inextricable from the boundless energy of nature, his own wild tidal forces that could not be harnessed or contained. As his glowing form slowly sank back to the rocky peak, he knew he was now indestructible.

This was everything that he had aimed to achieve – wasn't it? Even if _she _hated him for it, she now had no ties to that frozen wasteland of a hometown, no more reason to risk her life guarding the lighthouse. Their blood oath as the last of the Mercury clan had been rescinded. They were both free.

Reeling with glee, he raised his arms to the sky, crying, "Rise, storms! Rise up and unleash your might upon Vale and the foothills of Mt. Aleph!" A moment passed... then another. He was met with silence. The smile died on his lips as the air remained motionless.

"...That's odd... I should have limitless power... So why can't I call up a simple storm?"

Alex frowned, the throbbing in his chest growing sharper. Something was wrong. Surely he had done everything legend foretold... the Elemental Stars had been restored, the lighthouse beacons had all been lit, and the Golden Sun had settled into his body. He had felt the power augmenting his own Psynergy! But if the forces of nature were a part of his being now, why was there no response to his call?

He clenched his gloves into fists, his normally quick-witted mind drawing a blank. He had no desire for unnecessary bloodshed – his quest for power was never about violence – and surely the pure energy of the Golden Sun would not have chosen him as a vessel if there were true darkness in his soul. That was irrefutable. The town of Vale had already evacuated, there was no reason for something to protect them –

"The Wise One? Vale's protector? If you are trying to anger me, have a little taste of exactly how much power I have attained! Look at me! My body is brimming with power!"

Sure enough, as he crowed his confident challenge aloud, the Wise One revealed itself as the abomination it was. He should have anticipated this opponent. It had the craggy appearance of a boulder the height of a man, but its core was that of a single hideous eyeball. Alex sneered insolently, boldly sizing up the telepathic guardian. There was no reason to fear it, now that they were equals.

The ancient demigod was as crafty and manipulative as Alex himself, and when it came down to it, they had been at odds from the beginning. They had each picked a team of warriors to do the hard work for them, and pitted them against each other with the ultimate goal of releasing alchemy to restore the crumbling world they lived on. To that end, perhaps they had both succeeded without getting their hands dirty.

But Mia had sided with the Wise One. And for that, and that alone, Alex was willing to battle.

"How...! What's going on? I should be all-powerful! How can you defeat me! This cannot be! Who is responsible for this treachery? ...Who has robbed me of my dream?"

With just one crushing blow of energy, Alex lay stunned against the rocky plane. His limbs felt like lead. It happened so fast, he couldn't even defend himself. Everything seemed to be spiraling out of his control. Why? Where had he gone wrong – he had mastered ancient Psynergy that no other adept could come close to mimicking, to prepare his body for nature's blessing. It was supposed to be his right as the strongest, and now he felt weaker than ever! His dream... when had this become his dream? When he left Imil with the Proxians, or had it been earlier than that? His mind sluggishly tried to focus on the present, of the gloating Wise One hovering above his broken body... of the explanation being offered.

Treachery. The Wise One had seen his motives from the beginning, and prepared for his arrival. The Golden Sun had been split, some of its boundless energy redirected into another adept – one of the Wise One's accursed favorites. That meant neither of them could use it properly. How unfair this was! He had come so close! This couldn't be the end, he wasn't beaten yet. He was immortal. Again he struggled to move, to stand and finish the battle, and again his limbs failed him. It was a struggle even to breathe. He felt so... heavy.

_The heavens and earth are changing, Alex! You must flee now! Mt. Aleph will soon be drawn into the heart of the earth! You must flee or join it forever! Ah, yes. You now see the limits of your power. If you are swallowed by the earth, you may not survive. If you survive, perhaps we will meet again someday..._

Alex's gaze lingered on the retreating figure of the omniscient boulder, glaring venom at the one being who had managed to outwit him and now had the gall to abandon him to his fate. That _thing _wouldn't even stay to watch. How undignified this was. How shameful. How pathetic he felt, a coward to the end. The mountain let out a creaking groan, a warning of the seismic disaster about to unfold around him. Why couldn't he warp from the danger? Alex felt tremors wracking his paralyzed form, and could not distinguish if they came from the crumbling mountain or from his own quaking frame. No. No, no, no...! Eternal life would be a bitter prize indeed if he were to be trapped within the core of the earth...!

This was nothing like how he imagined it would be. His carefully laid plans were collapsing around him, just like the very stones he was at the mercy of. He was supposed to be invincible, fearless, peerless! Now no one would be driven to seek him out. Now the heroes who had lit the beacons and saved the world, now they would simply breathe a sigh of relief that the traitor in their midst had been snuffed out without their involvement. They would even thank the Wise One for leaving him to die! Now Mia... Mia would be left behind by him one last time, assuming he had been driven by greed from the beginning. She would think that she too meant nothing to him... and that he had gotten exactly what he deserved. Maybe it would be easier for her to hate him. Even though it wasn't fair that she would never know...

_"At times like this, where would be the good in panicking?"_

His own words brought a bitter smile to his face amidst the chaos, the same icy sarcastic smirk that had been his mask throughout life. Let them all hate him. They already did – what difference would it make to him if they never really understood him? He had always been too proud to speak openly of his justifications, and if no one was here to listen to his last words, none would be the wiser. Mount Aleph was to be his tomb, whether he survived the volcano's collapse or not.

Dust choked his laboring windpipe, blotting out the sunlight that felt so warm just moments earlier. Rocks began to tumble atop his midsection, gradually weighting down his straining chest. The throbbing he felt earlier was still so vivid, though, more powerful than the battering of the earth around him. It gradually dawned on Alex that the pain in his chest had been his heartbeat all along. Panic rose like bile to his lips, but there was no point in struggling, in trying to run away again. Would he be in this situation now if he'd had the guts back then to tell Mia goodbye? No matter how much swaggering confidence he mustered or witty retorts he hid behind, her disapproval always cut him down to nothing. He wouldn't have been able to leave her behind if she knew he was betraying her. Was it still too late for regrets?

_"Even now, I want to run to Mia... It seems I am weak as well..."_

How perfectly miserable, to only come to that conclusion now: it had all been for nothing. He didn't want to die. Not after being raised as a healer, having to fight death and lose more often than not; how could he have let it catch him so soon, after all this? He didn't want to be another grave for Mia to cry over. Her father had taught them both before his untimely passing, and it left her heartbroken. How could Alex do that to her again?

The rumbling was deafening to his ears, blackness all around him now. There would be nothing left on the surface to mark where he was, nor a tombstone to mark his passing. His lungs burned with the effort it took to breathe, the stale air hot and dizzying. Stripped of everything he had ever been proud of, Alex lay trapped below the earth, trying to remember why he had been so excited earlier. What he had been so eager to attain. He just didn't want to be scared anymore, wasn't that how it started? Mortality was a terrifying thing to a child who outlived his parents and his clan... Alchemy had so much to offer though, even a chance to live forever, without fear of death... This was just too cruel, after having thrown everything away in the quest to cheat death... to be buried alive...

All he desired now, more than anything, was to see _her _face one last time before he...


End file.
